Chapter 16

USS Echo, 1600 hours, Earthdome Time

"Welcome aboard the Echo, Captain Vox."

Moments after the Trill navigator had materialized onto the pad inside the vessel's transporter room, he found Krilka and a youthful-appearing Vulcan woman waiting for his arrival beside the platform. He immediately recognized the even and unemotional greeting had been issued by the Vulcan. Although she wasn't as striking as Jason's V'Lar, the woman was aesthetically pleasing. She wore the yellow-ochre turtleneck of an Operations officer and her hair was in the traditional short cut of most of the Vulcans who served in Starfleet. She was an inch or so taller than Krilka, making her about several inches shorter than V'Lar.

"Thank you, Lt. T'pal, isn't it?" Vox asked as he stepped off the platform.

"Yes sir."

Vox nodded politely to the Vulcan. "I'm looking forward to serving with you, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir. I look forward to serving with you as well."

The Echo's new commander smiled tightly at both of his subordinates before he strode over to the computer console located on the top of the transporter control panel. Vox pressed a button and said, "Computer."

"Working," the machine replied in its nondescript feminine voice.

"Broadcast this throughout the ship." Then Vox turned to face T'pal and recited from a PADD he'd carried onto the ship, "Attention to orders: to Lieutenant T'pal, Commanding Officer, USS Echo – Stardate 9826.5. You are hereby requested and required to relinquish command of your vessel to Lieutenant Commander Niznik Vox, Chief Navigator, USS Valkyrie as of this date. Signed, Rear Admiral John L. Tapin, Starfleet Command."

T'pal was the picture of serenity as she spoke. "Computer, transfer all command codes to Lt. Commander Niznik Vox, voice authorization: T'pal-victor-eight."

Immediately, the computer said, "Transfer complete. USS Echo is now under the command of Lt. Commander Niznik Vox." Shortly thereafter, the computer played a bosun's whistle throughout the ship.

Then, Vox said to the Vulcan, "I relieve you, sir."

"I stand relieved."

Both officers nodded respectfully to each other before Vox shot a look at Krilka. "Lieutenant Krilka, have you had the opportunity to have the computer log you in as both the executive officer and science officer of this vessel?"

"Yes sir!" she barked.

"Good!" he snapped back in response. "Krilka, T'pal, with me!"

As the small party exited the transporter room into the corridor, Vox asked, "Krilka, are we ready to cast off?"

"Aye, Captain. Your gear has been stored in your cabin. The ship and her crew are ready to depart at your command. All departments report green across the board, sir."

"Excellent, Number One," Vox said as the three officers entered the turbolift. Vox punched the lift button and announced, "Bridge." Then he said, "Krilka, I want a meeting of the senior staff with Colonel Utron at eighteen hundred."

"Yes sir," the Klingon replied.

Thirty seconds later, the lift opened to the ship's Bridge. The three officers exited onto the deck where several people were scurrying hither and yon to prepare the ship for departure. However, even with the hustle and bustle all around them, T'pal serenely glided over to the helm, relieved the ensign sitting there and took her place. Meanwhile, Krilka marched over to the science station next to the communications station and began to work her panel. However, before Vox could seat himself in the big chair, a young human male blocked Vox's path.

Vox narrowed his eyes at the young man. Didn't this kid realize they were on a tight schedule? "What can I do for you, Lieutenant Hobson, isn't it?"

"Sir…excuse me…but I was wondering if I could speak to you in private?"

Vox's expression fairly mimicked his friend/enemy V'Lar look of surprise when his right eyebrow shot toward the ceiling. The boy wanted to have a private chat with his skipper just before the ship warped out of the system?!

The Trill had to think for a moment to remember where the conference room was on this ship. Although it would have been nice to have a ready room nearby like the one on the Valkyrie, the perimeter action ship was much too small for such luxuries. Why, compared to the conference rooms on the starcruiser, the Echo's was practically a closet!

However, his curiosity piqued, he indicated that the lieutenant should follow him.

As they entered the conference room, the lights immediately illuminated and the door swished shut behind them. Vox then turned to the other man and said, "What is it, Lieutenant?"

Hobson drew a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "I'd like to request a transfer, sir."

Vox blinked twice at that. Well, he mused inwardly, that was unexpected. "May I ask why?"

"Well sir…I'm not…comfortable serving alongside a…Klingon. I don't believe I would be... effective as long as she's aboard this ship."

Vox wasn't confused any longer. No, he was angry. Indeed, his blood was rapidly approaching its boiling point. "Lieutenant," the Trill said, his voice deceptively calm, "have you ever been in combat against the Klingons?"

"No sir."

"Did you lose someone, a relative or a close friend, during a Klingon raid sometime in the past?"

"No sir. However, when I was growing up on Earth, a friend of mine had lost a brother who'd been in Starfleet during a skirmish with the Klingons. That was ten years ago."

"I see," Vox said, even though he truly did not. "Well, I've got news for you, Hobson. Today is your lucky day. The reason I believe that is because you've been granted a rare opportunity. Unlike with most blunders in life, you're going to get a second chance to make it right!"

The young man's eyes grew as big as saucers when the boy had heard that, so Vox knew he had the kid hook, line and sinker, as Jason might have said.

"Lieutenant, do you recall the oath you swore when you became a Starfleet officer?"

"Um…"

"Didn't you swear," the Trill commander interrupted the boy loudly, "to uphold the regulations and laws of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet? Didn't you agree to become an ambassador of peace and goodwill? Didn't you pledge to represent the highest ideals of peace and brotherhood, to serve always the interests of peace and to offer aid to any and all beings that request it? Finally, didn't you vow to take on this obligation freely, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion?"

Sweat was practically pouring off the kid's face and Vox had to fight the urge to laugh as the Trill prepared to deliver the coup de grace. "If so, I'm certain you were temporarily confused a moment ago and now, that you've regained your senses, would like to withdraw your request. Either that, or you're a dishonorable liar!" Then Vox narrowed his eyes dangerously at the young man. "Mister, you're fortunate I'm pressed for time. If you're smart, you'll take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime deal. If you're not, I'll kick you out of my Starfleet so hard and so fast you won't need a starship to ferry your sorry ass back to the Alpha Quadrant!"

Hobson nearly looked like he was going to faint. However, that little fact didn't cause Vox to ease up on the boy. "So…what's it going to be?"

"I…I was confused for a moment, sir. Now I'm back on an even keel. I'd like to withdraw my request."

Vox nodded at the defeated man. "Consider it withdrawn, Lieutenant. But know this; there is no place in Starfleet for bigots. Everyone has the opportunity to prove themselves; we all start with a clean slate. Give Krilka a chance; give yourself a chance to learn something positive both about her and her culture. Give her the opportunity to learn something positive about yours. You may surprise her and you might manage to surprise yourself."

Hobson took a deep breath and appeared to relax somewhat. "Aye, sir," he said.

"All right then…take your station."

The two men exited the conference room and entered the bridge. Hobson took his place at Tactical while Vox seated himself in the big chair.

"Captain," the lieutenant at the Communications console announced, "we are cleared for departure by Io Transfer Point Station."

"Acknowledge the station, Lieutenant," he said before the Trill turned to the pair of officers seated at the consoles directly in front of him. "Navigation!"

"Aye, sir?" a young ensign called out over her shoulder from the Nav console.

"Is our course laid in?"

"Aye, Captain!"

"Lt. T'pal!" the Trill announced.

"Aye, sir?"

"Take us out, ahead warp factor one and increase to warp factor eight when the ship clears Neptune."

"Aye, sir, ahead warp factor one, increase to warp factor eight when the ship clears Neptune," the Vulcan repeated as she pressed a button on her console.

"Engage, T'pal."

"Aye, sir. She is approaching warp factor one, Captain."

"Steady as she goes, Helm."

As the Echo rocketed toward the edge of the Alliance Earth system, Vox grinned as he stared at the starfield streaking toward him through the forward viewscreen.

#

LUNA - One Hundred Kilometers Southeast of Armstrong Colony, 1713 hours, Earthdome Time

"Ma'am," Gunnery Sergeant Owens announced, "all systems go!"

Lt. Joanna Garroway barked, "All right, guys, let's do this!"

"Yes ma'am!" both Owens and Jaworski snapped out simultaneously.

The three MACOs were safely ensconced inside a photon torpedo ground station that had been dug into the lunar plains by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers some distance from a major Alliance Earth lunar colony. Fleet Captain Tynen had chosen the location in case her unit's positions came under heavy fire. In the unlikely event that both Luna's defense shield and the above-ground housing's shield generator should fail, collateral damage to the Alliance Earth civilians would be kept to a minimum if the enemy concentrated on the platoon's bunkers instead of the colony.

Four hundred torpedoes had been delivered and stored in the bunker's magazine. Afterwards, Garroway, Owens, and Jaworski had fitted each one with a Homing Anti-Radiation (HARM) sensor programmed to seek the energy profile transmitted to the defenders of the Alliance Earth system by Commodore Acaltha, the sentinel of Jericho III. According to the Andorian flag officer, the Minbari vessels' gravitic drive wake, their quantum singularities, and their stealth generators all drew HARM torpedoes like moths to the flame.

Now, less than a week after its installation, the bunker was ready to be tested. Inside, Jaworski monitored the generators and life support at the Engineering Systems station, while Owens manned the Operations station. Galloway manned Tactical, frankly, the easiest job inside their temporary 'home' because the AI basically did all the heavy-lifting for her. All she had to do was to touch either an enemy vessel or a point in space on her tactical viewscreen with her index finger and the AI would do the rest.

The current image she saw was produced by thousands of sensor remotes scattered between the Earth and the Moon and throughout the Earth Alliance system communicating to a massive node that distributed the data via a tight beam communications relay. Although the kludged system wasn't as good as the Federation or Klingon defense networks back home, it was far superior to anything operating in the Alliance Earth quadrant.

The remotes were programmed to detect jump points and, to a lesser degree, the traces of a ship approaching the system in jumpspace. However, if an enemy vessel somehow managed to elude all of the remotes and entered normal space close to Luna, the back-up sensor pallet housed on the surface of the bunker would target it and blow the ship to kingdom come.

Suddenly, Garroway's wool-gathering screeched to a halt when the computer announced, "Warning! Jump point forming!"

"Red alert!" Garroway snapped as the alarm rang out and the lighting dimmed inside the structure. The network of deployed remotes had detected the initial spatial disturbance of an opening jump point in the first few microseconds, determined its distance, and indicated the emergence area on her screen. Joanna immediately tapped image of the jump point with her finger then a coherent beam of light streaked from the top of the bunker toward the target.

As an Earthforce Hyperion cruiser hurtled out of the jump point, Garroway's beam punched the vessel right smack on the nose.

A second later, Owens glanced up from his station and announced, "Direct hit!" Then a chime sounded from his console, drawing the Gunny's attention to his work screen. "Lieutenant, I have the Valley Forge on the horn! "

"Open a channel, Gunny," she said.

After Owens activated the comm circuit, a man's voice spoke to them through the overhead speakers. "Bunker Victor-011, this is the Valley Forge, Captain John Hanscome commanding. You nailed us good, Victor-011! Nice shooting!"

Garroway smiled. "Victor-011 to Valley Forge, Lt. Joanna Garroway here, sir. Thanks for agreeing to be our guinea pig!" Then something caught her fancy and her smile spread into a broad grin. "Oh, and by the way, Valley Forge. Tag! You're it!"

#

Shuttlecraft Mist, on approach to Earthdome Spaceport, 1758 hours, Local Time

For what had to be the fiftieth time or so since he'd become the master of the Valkyrie, Fleet Captain Jason Tynen wondered how he managed to make it through the day without Shron injecting a hypo filled to the brim with ketoconazole into his neck.

It was times like these when he was trapped inside a tiny shuttlecraft with not one, not two, but three gorgeous women, he understood why a number of his fellow captains accused him of giving the infamous hound dog, James T. Kirk, a run for his money.

Although nothing was further from the truth, he had to admit it was easy to see why his peers saw it that way. After all, he did wed his exquisite first officer and had as members of his crew a virtual Greek demi-goddess and the daughter who was the spitting image of a mother the saturnine Mr. Spock had once deemed a "work of art." Also, given that his shuttlecraft pilot reminded a lot of people of Commander Uhura in her prime while his science officer had both the body and face of an angel, was it any wonder he felt an affinity for Jesus's trials during The Temptations?

"Captain," Lt. Rager announced from the pilot's seat, interrupting her captain's musings. "We are on final approach to Earthdome Spaceport."

"Confirmed, Lieutenant," Ensign Droxanne said. "The Spaceport is ahead bearing zero-nine, mark zero-zero-four, range twenty kilometers."

Tynen smiled at the young ensign's crisp precision. Droxanne was a tall blonde woman blessed both with a regal bearing and an ethereal elegance. She'd been born and bred in the city of Stratos on the planet Ardana, a world with a harsh, ugly surface that also paradoxically had a magnificent city suspended in the clouds high above. Her mother was Droxine, the daughter of Ardana's High Advisor when Kirk's Enterprise had visited the planet. Later, upon Droxanne's grandfather's retirement, her mother had ascended to the High Advisor position. Although the young woman had enjoyed the same life of academic excellence and privilege as had her mother, Droxanne had developed a strong sense of justice and equalitarianism that had led her to Starfleet. Fresh out of the Academy, Droxanne had joined the Valkyrie as a science officer in Commander Rex's division during the ship's relief efforts at the eradicated Regulus colonies.

Now he could see the spaceport in the distance through the windscreen, Tynen commanded, "Take us in, Lanei." Then he turned to face Rex, who was seated beside him. "So, tell me again about this field trip, Salayna," he said guardedly.

"After we drop you off, Lanei and I shall accompany Droxanne to the Alliance Earth's Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We have an appointment with a curator at the museum. Hopefully, he can help Droxanne clear up a few things regarding why the Humans in this quadrant of space are so far behind your people in propulsion technology. She's gathering this research for her doctoral thesis."

"Interesting," he noted, "although I have a theory on that myself."

"Which is…?"

"Once the Centauri showed up bearing the gift of jump space, the Humans simply shut down other areas of inquiry. I don't blame them, though. Apparently, every race in this quadrant has done the same thing. They only use the jump drive for FTL even though their STL drives are different depending on a particular race. That's different from our quadrant. Although most races use warp drive, there are some who don't, such as the First Federation."

Rex nodded at that. "That's true, sir."

"So you're tagging along, Rex, because…"

She smirked. "I'm not lollygagging, Captain. I'm going along because I'm Droxanne's doctoral advisor. As for Lanei, with her Master's degree in warp and impulse propulsion, she can provide a real-world perspective to our more theoretical approach."

"Well, your excursion sounds like it might be more fun than what I'm scheduled to do at Earthdome." Then he shot a sly look at his science officer. "Say, do you want to trade?"

She grinned then shook her head. "Not on your life, sir! That's why they pay you the big credits!"

Tynen sighed resignedly. Although briefings were normally his strong suit, giving one to the leader of an entire world along with her senior advisors and the ambassadors and flag officers from both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, respectively, was enough to give even him pause.

Just then, Lanei reported, "Holding profile, disengaging impulse engines, engaging thrusters," while she manipulated her control panel. Seconds later, the shuttlecraft settled gently down on the concrete runway of the spaceport.

Almost immediately, the pleasant artificial female computer voice standard throughout Starfleet ships and facilities sounded over the shuttle's intercom. "Shuttlecraft secured."

As Rager worked the controls to open the Mist's hatch, Tynen smiled. "Thanks for the lift, ladies. I should be ready to go at 2200 hours. Although I want you to enjoy yourselves, do be careful. The people here may be Human yet they're rougher around the edges than the folks back home. Watch your backs."

"Yes Captain," Rex said. "Oh, and sir, since it is cold outside, we'll wear our field jackets. That way, we can conceal our phaser IIs inside them."

He nodded. "Good thinking, Salayna. All right then. Carry on!"

"Aye sir," the three women chorused before Tynen disembarked from the shuttle and strode toward a door that opened into the terminal right before the Mist closed its hatch and lifted off.

#

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. 1217 E.S.T.

"Dr. Wolowitz!"

A thin strand of hair from Howard Joel Wolowitz's page-boy haircut shifted slightly when he whirled to acknowledge his assistant. Then when he saw the women with her, he couldn't believe his incredible luck!

Standing beside the incredibly plain woman that was his girl Friday, were three of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in his life! One was a tall, exquisite blonde, another was a chestnut-haired, buxom yet lean beauty, and the third was an African-American woman with a runway model's build and doe-like eyes. Howard became even more excited when he recognized the uniforms the women all wore. They were the Humans from the other side of the galaxy!

Then he winced inwardly. He was a scientist, damn it, and shouldn't make assumptions like that! If they were members of Starfleet, they might not be Human. Indeed, as he took a closer look at the chestnut-haired woman, she had some sort of…speckling that ran down the sides of her face and neck. Unless speckling was some sort of tribal markings or a strange tattoo, perhaps she was an actual humanoid alien!

After his assistant had excused herself and returned to her duties, the woman with the markings smiled brightly at him and extended her hand in greeting. "Dr. Wolowitz, I'm Lt. Commander Salayna Rex of the Federation starcruiser Valkyrie. This," she indicated with a glance at the woman who appeared to be African-American, "is Lt. Lanei Rager. And this," she indicated with sweep of her hand toward the other woman, "is Ensign Droxanne."

Howard could tell that these women were sophisticated so he had to play it cool and come up with something suave if he wanted a chance to score with at least one of the ladies. "Commander, Lieutenant, Ensign, it is certainly nice to meet you all. I was just wondering if, by chance, none of you are Human because each of you is out of this world!"

He expected at least one of them would have tittered at his witticism. Instead they narrowed their eyes at him in confusion.

"Er…Dr. Wollowitz," the brown-skinned woman said, "I'm Human. I'm from the state of Louisiana in North America on my Earth. However, my colleagues aren't. Droxanne is from the planet Ardana and Salayna is from the planet Trill. Be that as it may, we'd like to talk to you about your history of spaceflight."

His interest was piqued by that. "Why would you want to discuss that?"

"Well, Doctor," the tall blonde hottie said, "I am pursuing my doctoral thesis. Its focus is on the reasons your space propulsion technology advanced less rapidly than on Federation Earth."

"Are you saying we're slower than the Humans in your home quadrant?" he snapped, taking what she'd said somewhat defensively.

"I suppose you could characterize it that way, Doctor," she answered, apparently nonplussed by the skewered look on his face. "Federation Earth developed its own faster-than-light propulsion system in 2063. Your world never developed its own FTL propulsion system. You were given jump drive technology by the Centauri in 2156, almost a century after the Humans on Federation Earth had developed warp drive."

He blinked at that. Damn it! She's right! "That's true, Ensign," he grudgingly admitted.

She apparently nodded at his reasonable acceptance of the truth. "Even so, Doctor, I would like to focus on the development of your interplanetary propulsion technology and examine whether your people considered other FTL propulsion systems before you adopted the jump drive."

He smiled brightly at her. Now, they were talking applications, his area of expertise! "What would you like to know?"

"Apparently," Salayna said, "everything occurred along the same lines for both Earths in regards to the crowning achievements of their early space programs. Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first men on the moon on both Alliance Earth and Federation Earth. Viking 1 was the first probe from both Earths to land on Mars in both systems. Finally, both Earths developed the space shuttle for low earth orbit missions after the moon program had ended. However, in the last decade of the twentieth century, Federation Earth took a giant leap forward. In fairness, though, our records now show that this 'leap' was the result of several outside elements that influenced the course of history on Federation Earth."

"Outside elements?" he repeated. "Are you saying that extraterrestrials may have been responsible for giving your Humans a leg up on us?"

"Intentionally, no," Rager said. "Accidentally…yes."

Droxanne then took up the thread. "In 1994, the first DY-100 interplanetary transport was developed. Based on a structure similar to the fast attack nuclear submarines of Federation Earth's twentieth century, this vessel incorporated a fission propulsion system, cryonic suspension, was built from transparent aluminum and could reach .1 c. Transparent aluminum was supposedly 'discovered' in the late twentieth century on Federation Earth. We now know the identity of the source for the material. Although the individual involved was advanced, the source was not extraterrestrial in origin. However, the development of an advanced fission powered propulsion system and cryonic suspension system for deep space travel most likely originated from an examination of extraterrestrial technology. Unfortunately with the destruction that Federation Earth suffered during both the Eugenics Wars and World War III, much of the physical and documentary evidence of the extraterrestrial technology was likely destroyed. So all we have left to us are a few of the actual vehicles that were a product of this research."

"Wait a minute," Wolowitz said. "Your Humans developed sleeper ships almost one hundred and fifty years before we did and your 'primitive' ships were as fast as our modern ships in normal space?"

"I'm afraid so," Lanei said. "Your ion engines aren't really more advanced than the old fission systems we had."

"Indeed, Doctor," Droxanne noted. "The DY-100 class led to the establishment of Federation Earth's first Lunar colony in 2010. Eleven years later, a joint United Nations/NASA manned mission to Saturn used the very first impulse engine, a drive that has not really changed much during the past two hundred fifty years or so. That first ship, the Lewis and Clark, had a maximum speed of .35 c."

"Wow!" Howard exclaimed. "That's even faster than a Minbari war cruiser in normal space!"

Droxanne nodded then continued with her dissertation. "In 2031 Federation Humans landed the first men on Mars using an impulse drive spacecraft. A year after that, a young man named Zefram Cochrane studied a paper written in the year the DY-100 first became operational by a physicist named Miguel Alcubierre. Alcubierre wrote a paper entitled 'The Warp Drive: Hyperfast travel within general relativity for the Classical & Quantum Gravity science journal."

Wolowitz raised his hand to indicate they needed to stop for a moment. "Excuse me, but something you mentioned just jogged my memory." Immediately, he activated his PADD and searched for something in its index files. Several moments later, he smiled. "Fascinating! We had a physicist named Miguel Alcubierre on our world who wrote the same paper as the one you just referenced!"

"Intriguing," the tall blonde noted. "You see, Dr. Wolowitz, the discovery of warp propulsion changed the course of Federation Earth's history. Once a scarred world struggling to recover from the horrors of a devastating atomic war, warp drive led to First Contact with the Vulcans, an older, more advanced race of humanoids who helped guide Federation Earth into the galactic community. Only seven years after its first warp flight, Earth established its first extrasolar colony. Thirty years later, Federation Humanity had colonized Proxima, Terra Nova, Vega IX and Deneva."

"Impressive," he noted. "It was eight years after we'd been given the jump drive by the Centauri that we established our first extrasolar colony, Proxima III. Hmm…" the professor murmured. "Let me check something else while you're here." The Alliance Earth doctor inputted something onto his PADD and after several seconds glanced up at the three women. He held it out to them and asked, "Does this man resemble your Zefram Cochrane?"

The three women studied the image and nodded vigorously. "He's a dead ringer for ours!" Lanei exclaimed.

"Extremely interesting," Howard drawled. "This man received his PhD from Caltech on my world. That's why I recalled something about him. Unfortunately he died during a terrible accident in 2062 while working on a real-world application of a revolutionary propulsion system. He was working somewhere near Bozeman, Montana when a massive explosion destroyed his entire team, the city of Bozeman, and thousands of square miles of forest. No one knew for sure what had happened but several investigators had believed it had something to do with an uncontrolled matter/anti-matter reaction." Wolowitz then shook his head sadly. "I suppose that's why no one on my world attempted to pursue that line of research. And that's a shame because if we had developed the drive you people use, maybe we wouldn't have lost so many of our early interstellar explorers to the folly of our sleeper ship program. Not a single one has ever made it to their destination that we know of."

As Wolowitz lamented the lost explorers of Alliance Earth's twenty second century, the women seemed to share the same gleam in their eyes and apparently decided to wrap up the interview. "Doctor Wolowitz," Rex said. "Thank you for meeting with us today. This discussion has been most enlightening. We must go now, but we'd like to have you work with us as a consultant on this project."

"Why, that would be wonderful, Commander. I would be happy to help in whatever way I can."

After the women had said their goodbyes, Wolowitz watched them go, a little sorrowful that he'd missed an opportunity to use a great line he'd just thought of before they had left him. Well, ladies, I've heard about those tricorders of yours. If you'd whip them out, maybe you'd like to hear my heart skip a beat!

#

Titan – Federation Decoy Ship 1935 hours Earthdome Time

"Well, Rad?"

He shot a pleased look her way as the Klingon major bore an expression on her face that reminded him of the cat that had just eaten a canary.

"I've got to admit, Gemma. You nailed it right on the head as the Humans might say."

He stared proudly at the ersatz warp core his decoy team (he counted Gemma and her five engineers as core members) had built. The "USS Eagle" was modeled after the real perimeter action ship that was still in the Alpha Quadrant as far as they knew. However, this 'ship' was nothing more than an elaborate trap, a wolf dressed in starship's clothing.

The crowning touch that Gemma and her Klingon engineers had added was replacing the deuterium/antideuterium reaction material with tritium/antitritium. Klingons preferred using tritium for their reaction mass rather than deuterium because they found tritium reactions were not as subject to dampening effects by outside forces as deuterium reactions. Because of this, the Klingons were willing to put up with the shielding required to protect their engineering crews from the radiation inherent in tritium.

Gemma proved that an uncontrolled annihilation of tritium and antitritium was significantly more volatile than a Federation warp core explosion. Why, the yield was more than twenty percent of the effect they'd predicted using deuterium.

Now alone with the woman Janja had come to see as a close friend despite their different allegiances, he was pleased with the improved lethality of their device. Then, suddenly, the smile fled from his face.

"What is wrong, Rad?" Gemma asked lowly.

"Gemma, do you ever think about the lives that will be torn apart by what we're doing here? Oh, I know the Minbari intend to kill us all but I wonder if we're truly any better than they are. If this device works, their ship will never return home. They'll die in jump space, lost forever, leaving nothing for their loved ones to mourn except memories."

She placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "Yes, Janja, I do consider them. I know how it feels to see a loved one walk out my door, expect them to come home, and find that was the last time I'd see that person ever again. Although war is glorious; it is harsh. Losing lives in a pointless war is just that, pointless. But the Minbari, Janja, they would eradicate every Human, your shipmates, their families, their entire race, to salve the Minbari's wounded pride. That is why we must be victorious so those on either side of this conflict may return home safely."

"You're right, Gemma," he agreed with a deep sigh. "Thank you!" For some reason, her touch felt so good. Then, suddenly, she moved her face close to his cheek, drew in his scent deeply and growled lowly.

Stunned by this turn of events, he was further surprised when she released him and commanded, "We have pushed ourselves hard lately and require a day of rest, Rad. Thus, you shall accompany me to Earth on an excursion, say tomorrow at 1400 hours?"

All he could do was nod woodenly while he asked himself, what just happened here?

#

Twenty miles outside the rebuilt city of Bozeman, MT 1320 hours M.T.

Salayna Rex gritted her teeth as the cold wind knifed through her slender body.

After leaving the Smithsonian, her party had decided to examine the site where this world's Zefram Cochrane had died to see if their sensors could find anything to shed some light on what really happened all those years ago.

As she studied the readings they had obtained with their tricorders, Rex highly doubted that a warp core breach had been the cause of the disaster that had practically killed every living thing in a twenty mile radius of the blast zone. Even now after nearly two centuries, the trees of the surrounding forest were scorched and broken. The ones closest to the blast zone were partly standing except for the top portions that had snapped off like twigs in a hurricane. Several miles away, the trees had only been scorched on the sides facing the blast effect and had been flattened in the direction directly opposite of the explosion.

The Trill science officer turned away from the devastation that surrounded her and turned her attention back to the data gathered by their tricorders. The blast effect was most likely due to an airburst rather than a ground explosion. The blast zone was similar to the remains of the comet that had exploded several thousand feet above the forests of Tunguska, Siberia on both Earths in 1908. Moreover, they'd found traces of zero point energy in the soil. Thus, she reasoned the destruction hadn't been caused by an uncontrolled matter/antimatter annihilation; rather, the explosion was the result of a moderate quantum gravitic weapon's discharge.

Just as she was about to give the other women the order to extend their scans to locate any signs that the bunker that would have housed Cochrane's Phoenix had survived the attack, Rex heard a high-pitched buzzing noise. Eyes wide open in alarm, she immediately recognized the sound.

"Gun!" she yelled loudly and dove for cover behind the trunk of a large scorched pine tree.

Moments later, two plasma bolts struck the bark of her tree and splattered pieces of it across the dead forest's floor. Salayna then drew her phaser pistol from her coat pocket with her shooting hand and retrieved her communicator from the other pocket with the other. Immediately, she flipped open the communicator's antenna grid and barked, "Rager, Droxanne, status!"

"Rager here. I'm all right."

"Droxanne here. I am undamaged."

Fighting down the urge to breathe a relieved sigh, Rex allowed instincts from a prior host's life as a combat soldier to take control. "Did either of you get a fix on the shooter's position in relation to me?"

"It's Rager, Commander. I have him bearing zero nine mark at one hundred meters."

So, she thought, he's nine degrees to my right. "All right then," she said into her communicator, "here's how we're going to play this. Set your phasers to heavy stun. I'll draw his fire while you both circle around him to take him down. Rager, I want you to swing to your left; Droxanne, to your right. You both do this by the book, you got that?"

Both women confirmed her instructions and proceeded to comply. Rex then drew a deep breath, chanced a glance around her tree and fired a phaser bolt in the direction of the shooter's last sighting.

Her bolt struck a tree downrange. Almost immediately, a nondescript figure poked its upper torso out and sent several plasma bursts toward Rex's position. Her enemy's fire struck her tree about a yard or so up from the ground where she laid prone. She smirked and thought, thank the Maker for small favors that this person's aim is so off! Although Starfleet, in her humble opinion, foolishly continued to insist on having its personnel wear scarlet uniforms which seemed to draw energy bolts like a bear to honey, the rust colored field jackets appeared to do a far better job of throwing a shooter's aim off target. Then putting such thoughts aside, Rex focused once again on the grim work at hand, squeezing off two more bolts, forcing the shooter to recoil behind his scorched shield.

The Trill and her opponent exchanged several more rounds of fire before her communicator tweeted. "This is Droxanne. I am in position."

"Good. Fire when I yell to draw his attention."

"Aye, sir!"

Well, Rex mused, here's where I earn the big credits! She then poked her head out from her cover and yelled,"HEY!"

Her opponent appeared to have been startled by her right before the crimson beam of a phaser connected with his body and sent him tumbling to the ground.

"Target is down," Droxanne stated over Rex's communicator. "I repeat; target is down."

Rex exhaled noisily, her tension released. "Good work, Droxanne." Then she called to both women. "Rager, Droxanne, converge on target and secure him for transport. Once we pick up the captain, I know he'd want to have a little chat with the person who attempted to kill three members of the Valkyrie's crew. Rex, out."

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